


would you be so kind

by raincallsx



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Drabble Collection, Episode: Night and the Doctor e03 First Night, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, Kisses, Picnics, Stormcage Containment Facility, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24673990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raincallsx/pseuds/raincallsx
Summary: sometimes, they get a moment to themselves, and she cherishes every last onea series of unconnected drabbles
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/River Song
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	1. the picnic

River knew the Doctor, deeper than anyone else. She knew him. She knew his appearance like the back of her own hand. Every line, every freckle, every curve of muscle or bone, every inch of him as if she had memorised him on purpose. Maybe she had. Even she didn't know. Some things would remain a mystery to even her. She knew his mind, too. Often anticipation his reaction to thighs, or occasionally the look on his face.

There was a certain duality in him. The last of the Time Lords. Fierce and unyielding with fire and ice swirling around him. The destroyer of worlds. The demon of Demon’s Run. The man who never yielded to anyone save himself. The dutiful husband that bent over backwards for her. The man who loved so deeply and so completely so that every loss shattered him to the core. The man that knew her better than any other. Some days they seemed like two completely different people. One completely overshadowed the other to the point that even River forgot the other for a little while.

Some days they meshed to one. Those were always the most intense. The days he put everything aside and fought the battle for  _ her _ . Not that she had ever asked. Not that she had ever wanted someone to fight her battles, but sometimes she appreciated it even if she didn't say it out loud.

She didn't recognise that part of him now as she gazed up at him, sun casting shadows over the curves of his cheeks and his hair over his eyes as he looked back down at her. His hand in her hair, her head in his lap, as he was telling her a story. She was only half listening, all too caught up in the sight of his face. The ability to be relaxed, themselves, barely came up as a possibility. When she got the chance, she drank it up as greedily as one could. Her hand laced with his free one, wine and book lay forgotten a few inches away from them as they drank one another up.

He radiated safety and home to her. She could only hope she did the same for him. Deep down, she doubted that she ever did. She had accepted that she was always much more in for their relationship than he was, and that was okay. At least she told herself it was.

He was a Time Lord, exponentially older and wiser than her. He has felt more, had more, and lost more than almost anyone else could imagine. She understood if she didn't hold the same gravity to him as he did to her. That did not necessarily mean he enjoyed it though.

The thought that was digging at the edge of her brain was quickly pushed aside when she noticed the corner of his mouth quirk up into a slight smile. Some thoughts would just have to wait for later. As of right now she was much too preoccupied with what she wanted to do with him next.

She leaned up, using the short lapse in speech as a window to kiss him quick and soft. He looked surprised for a moment before he closed the gap between them again, hands moving to hold her head steady. For once, River had not a single thing to complain about. 

For once, life was easy, even if just for a few fleeting hours.


	2. the first night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day one of twelve thousand consecutive life sentences

Stormcage was always at an extreme. Too hot, or much too cold. Some exciting attempted break out by a fellow prisoner, or hours and hours of pure unadulterated nothing. Loud and full of people, or so quiet you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. Tonight ticked off the cold, boring, and quiet boxes. Things River wasn't all too fond of. 

She sat with her back against the wall, legs curled under her on her cot, with a blanket wrapped around her for good measure. A trail of goosebumps along her skin that she was attempting to use the blanket to soothe. A sports bra and a camisole wasn't cutting it, but there was no guard to ask to bring a change of clothes to be seen, and she knew there wouldn't be for another thirty minutes. 

River was writing in her diary, because there wasn't much else to do. A few days prior she had been on the Halderan Beta with the Doctor, and she had yet to finish her entry about it. There had been more stars in that sky than she had ever thought possible. It had been, in short, incredible. She wanted to store it somewhere for safekeeping, and besides, that's what the Doctor had said the diary was for.

As her pen drifted across the page, looping pleasantly back and forth as it gently scratched the parchment of her diary, she contemplated her circumstances. Nothing about Stormcage was ever fun or comfortable (except maybe her escapes and break ins because she loved when the attention was on her and there was nothing they could do to stop her). She found herself feeling a bit lovestruck as she came to the end of the second page of her entry. That made her halt.

Of course she loved her husband, there was no question there. She tore apart reality for him. She was serving 1200 consecutive life sentences for him. She gave up every remaining regeneration she had for him. In return he picked her up every so often, taking her to see wonders, making her feel as special as she thought him for a short time. He came back for her time and time again. She knew she was one of the lucky ones.

Of course she knew that she wasn't the first. Not the first girl, not the first blonde, and not even the first ‘R’, but she understood. When you live so long, you soon find out that regular people tend to fall behind rather quickly. She wasn't bitter about it. If anything, it made her nervous. She knew one of these days would come to pass and it would be the last. She dreaded that day, but she accepted its existence in a way. She had confided that in another one of the Doctor’s immortal friends, though she wasn't too sure. Maybe because she could tell that Jack understood her feelings better than anyone else ever would. 

She closed the diary and stroked her thumb against the pages, letting them flip back and forth across the nearly new book idly as she thought. She didn't enjoy feeling like a lovesick idiot, but it was nice in a way. She finally felt like she had a home- a family. Something Madame Kovarian, that awful witch of a woman, had made sure she was completely devoid of for the first twenty seven years of her life. Her days filled instead with absence and training and cold stares from her superiors as she ate a less than lackluster breakfast. But here she was, with a husband whom she loved (and who she was mostly sure loved her back in his own way), a mum, a dad, and all of time and space in her reach. 

The thought of Amy and Rory made her smile. Even if she kept her distance, they still meant home to her.

They were all she would ever want. All she could ever need. Granted, she was awful at showing Amy and Rory that, and the Doctor seemed to already know. 

There was something indescribably wonderful about being married to a man who knew everything about you. Who knew how to make you laugh, where you liked to go, how to please you. It felt like a fairy tale some days. Of course things were never always that easy, but she let herself linger on the good for now.

She inhaled a little and put her thumb in her mouth, having given herself a paper cut on accident. The bitter taste of iron filled her mouth as she did. Placing the book on the nightstand, and shaking her head a bit fondly at it, she admired the book. It was her most prized possession. Even the guards knew not to touch it.

River shrugged off the blanket and got up, giving a stretch big enough to show off a strip of stomach to her captive audience of absolutely no one. She yawned, combing her fingers through her mess of curls to fix it back into place. There was nothing quite like a day of nothing to tire out the universe’s most wanted. Looking around her small cell for anything to straighten up, she concluded that there was nothing left to organise. She decided to finish off her tea that had gone cold somewhere between staring at her diary entry and now.

She was just about to get a change of clothes when she had that familiar sound that she had come to love more than anything. The TARDIS engines were a much welcomed disruption to the monotony of the day. She smiled to herself, before turning around.

“River Song! Get your coat! We’re going to be late.” 

“And who are you to talk about being late?” She crossed her arms in a playful huff.

He smiled at her and in moments the door was opened. River crossed the room and took his arm. He pressed a kiss to her cheek in quick succession before pulling her into the TARDIS. 

Finally, some excitement. 


End file.
